


I have a Second in Command?

by R_4_L



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-13
Updated: 2018-11-13
Packaged: 2019-08-23 08:05:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16615103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/R_4_L/pseuds/R_4_L
Summary: Tseng has been hospitalized and someone is taking over control of the Turks, now that he's back to his normal self he search for the mysterious second in command can start and Tseng can decide whether it's someone he needs to promote or eliminate.





	I have a Second in Command?

**Author's Note:**

> Final Fantasty is the property of Square Enix, I am a fan only.

Tseng was getting sick and he hated it. He spent the last three nights out in the cold and the rain trying to neutralize the latest threat to Rufus in particular and Shinra in general. Every one of the Turks was taking this last assassination threat seriously. They were the most organized group since AVALANCHE and the most vicious. This group wasn't opposed to collateral damage. Tseng had been forced to split the Turks up into indiviual assignments, each one taking a target to follow and get intel on or take them out which was needed most. He'd been burning the candle at both ends for a while now and his body was shutting down. Leaning back in his chair, he tried to put the pieces of this new threat together. He didn't hear his pen fall to the floor or know when his eyes fell closed. 

When he opened his eyes he was in the Shinra medical unit. IVs in his left arm and machines beeping in the background. 

"It's nice to see you awake."

Tseng swung his head to the chair beside his bed and the man sitting there. The guards behind him were unknown to him.

"Rufus, sir. What's going on? Sir?" Tseng was groggy and unsure of what had been happening.

"Well all I know is that you were found unconscious and on the verge of death in your office a week ago and this the first you've woken." Rufus steepled his fingers as he looked at the defacto leader of the Turks.

"How are things at the office? Who brought me in? Why was I close to death?" Tseng was trying to make sure that he had the facts straight, and deal with the fallout of being down and out for a week.

"Things are going surprisingly smoothly with your Turks." Rufus had a strange look on his face. "You're second in command has had things under control." 

"Excuse me?" Tseng wasn't sure if he was still partially dreaming. "Did you say second in command?"

"Hmm, yes." Now that Rufus knew that Tseng was just as confused as he was, the president was going to sit back and enjoy this. 

"Perhaps if you could explain things a little more sir." He looked from the president to the men behind him and back again.

Rufus nodded and waved the guards towards the door. He was generous enough to wait until they were alone before he started explaining. "It seems that you were found in your office unconscious and barely breathing. In the middle of the night you were brought to the Shinra medical center. There is no recording of who brought you in, you were found when a nurse noticed a previously empty bed suddenly had vitals being monitored. Whoever brought you in, started you on a saline drip and monitoring your vitals. The Hospital contacted your office and I was notified. That was a week ago. You were showing signs of extreme dehydration from a bad case of the flu, and signs of having been poisoned. The poison was recent, something that you drank or ate ten to twelve hours prior to you being brought in." Rufus watched Tseng's reaction carefully. If the head of the Turks didn't know who brought him in, then there was someone out there who was hiding their identity. The question was why? "Obviously the doctors were able to counter the poison. It's taken you this long to recover. I was assured that there would be no long lasting effects."

Tseng let his head fall back on to the bed. He was still too weak to get up. The flu. The last time he had the flu it had laid him out for a good two weeks. The poison was likely in his food when he stopped at the cafe to follow his targets. "I think I know where I was poisoned and mostly likely by which group, if not the specific individual." Tseng let his eyes close. "I must have slipped if they made me." Taking a breathe he sat up as much as he could, "could you tell me about my second in command. Which one of the Turks is playing boss?" Tseng could see the pros of each of his team taking on a leadership role, of course they all had more cons but that was generally associated with their personality issues.

"Honestly I don't know. If it hadn't been for me demanding an explanation from one of your juniors to explain why she, Katana I believe, replaced my pilot I don't know if I would have questioned what was going on too closely. All she said was that instructions had come in from you that morning that there was a credible threat from my flight crew. I knew you were still unconscious, but whoever had sent that information was correct. The new co-pilot had a bomb and was planning a suicide mission. I gathered the rest of your Turks to find who had received communiqué from you, all they knew was that you had been hospitalized and were under quarantine, so no one had been able to see you." Rufus was stymied. "Whoever it is, has been handing out missions and demanding reports electronically. When I asked they all seemed surprised it wasn't you. While I trust your Turks, I also knew from access logs that they were all on assigned missions when you were incapacitated. I was the one that informed them you were in hospital. They all assumed that you were communicating electronically from the hospital. The instructions, the demand for mission updates, even the language used it all sounds like you. Whoever it is, they know your style."

"Any concern about security?" Tseng was worried about someone coming in and spilling company secrets.

Rufus smiled moving to the door, "if I had to guess, I'd say it was one of your Turks who was doing all the work. I'll let you figure out who needs either punishment or a promotion."

Tseng spent three more days in the hospital recovering. Showing up at work three hours before his regular time was Tseng way of checking to see just who might be masquerading as the head of the Turks. He was by no means the first one in the office, that was generally a toss up between Reno, who may or may not have gone home the night before, and Cissnei, who he often had to chase out of the office the night before. A glance around his office showed that nothing had been touched. His desk looked fine as well. His chair was still set up for him. Tseng knew that anyone who came in to use his computer would most likely change the height and angle that it sat at. Since it was still set for him, Tseng figured that who ever was playing at being boss, was doing so from their computer. 

He scrutinized the emails that had supposedly come from him while he had been in the hospital. His phrasing had been copied even the tone of them sounded like something he would have written. Scanning through his sent box, he realized that it wasn't just his Turks that this mystery second had emailed. "So you responded to every email that came to me while I was out."

"Talking to yourself so early boss man? Should you be out the hospital or are the doctors okay with your brand of crazy, yo?" Standing in his door with two cups of coffee was Reno, googles perched on his forehead.

Reno was one of the few who knew he prefer a good strong cup of coffee first thing in the morning before he switched to the Wu'tan tea. "Thanks," accepting the strong brew, Tseng sat back in his chair. 

"What's on the agenda for today boss man?" 

Tseng might have suspected Reno of being the one to send the emails if it wasn't for the fact that three of the emails required the writer to fluent in two different obscure dialects of Wutai. Reno, for all that he appeared uneducated, could speak the more common dialect, but wouldn't understand the difference nuances in the written language. Hell, the guy could barely put together an intelligible report in English. Taking another sip of his coffee, Tseng debated the idea of have Reno help him ferret out his mystery helper. 

"Just playing catch up right now." He better keep this to himself. Rufus may have let the cat out of the bag when he questioned everyone, but there was no sense in getting everyone else riled up. Besides, if he didn't over react there may be a chance that someone would slip up and he'd have his answer.

 

***

 

The elevator ride to the presidential suite wasn't long enough for his temper to cool. He barely managed to control his anger when he knocked on the door.

"Come."

Tseng opened the door to see Rufus behind his own desk, papers and files everywhere in what could only be called organized chaos. Rufus demanded action before Tseng shut the door, "I need you to send someone to see just what the hell Professor Hojo is up to. The reports he's sending in aren't matching those from Doctor Lucrecia. I'd say send in Vincent, but I don't think that would get the results that I'm ultimately looking for." It would most likely end in the Professor's death and while that may not necessarily be a bad thing, Rufus needed the lunatic around for a little while longer.

"I can have Vincent take over for Rude and send Rude up north." Tseng kept his voice even, it didn't matter how much hassle removing Rude from his current mission was going to be, if Rufus needed someone other then Vincent to talk toProfessor Hojo.

Rufus just nodded, Tseng knew his Turks best, "how's the search for the mysterious second in command going?" 

It had been a month since Tseng had been released from the hospital for the flu and poisoning. During the time since there had been a number of times when someone else had given the orders. All of those times he had been out of touch and the orders had required immediate action or not only his Turks, but also a good number of others would have died. The mystery boss had saved lives, his included. "Well I believe that I've narrowed it down to one of three people, although I have my suspicions. It's possible that I will be promoting them to be my second in command, officially."

Rufus just shrugged, if Tseng hadn't figured it out by now, Rufus wasn't going to clue him in. The only reason he had figured it out was because of a slip up, and if he knew Tseng, the head of the Turks had put this name to the bottom of his list. The pair spent the next hour going over report after report.

Tseng walked in the main office and watched his Turks at work. Ten of the desks were filled with Turks, all of whom were either filling out reports or doing research on their next target and mission. The sight of a red head in the back corner had Tseng moving forward with a purpose. His intent must have communicated itself to the rest of his men because not one of them said a word to give Reno a warning. 

Reno was so wrapped up in his work that he didn't realize he had someone watching him work until it was too late.

"Reno, when you're finished that email, please join me in my office." Tseng turned and walked into his office, ignoring the looks and muttering a from the others. 

Reno froze. It wasn't often that someone was able to sneak up on him, his paranoia one of the things he'd kept sharp since his years on the street. The only two who were able to manage it on a regular basis were his partner Rude, because if you didn't trust your partner to have your back then who could you trust, and Tseng. The level of trust he had with boss man just wasn't questioned. The helio pilot had thought he'd be safe because the others in the office didn't trust Tseng that way. He was counting on the subtle reduction of noise and hyper-awareness of the others to get through to him. He miscalculated, and by the stiff posture and tone he knew he'd been caught.

"Well you're in shit now Reno." Cissnei's comment was almost met with glee from the other Turks. The way Reno seemed to get away with almost anything could have caused a lot of friction between the close knit group. The only reason it didn't was that each and everyone of them knew that Reno had taken at least one dressing down that had been meant for someone else without saying a word.

Reno saved the email before closing down his computer and strutting towards the boss's office. Throwing a smirk over his shoulder at Cissnei, his voice came out with its usual attitude. "Sweetheart, don't wait up for me, yo." 

Sitting behind his desk, Tseng put his head in his hands and ignored the laughter coming from the other side of the door. How the hell had he missed the fact that Reno was the one giving him a hand. He went over everything he did know about the man, he didn't even realize that he gotten up to start pacing until the door opened and he was partially hidden behind it.

He slammed the door, startling the reckless pilot. "When you first took your training, you were barely literate." He motioned for Reno to take a seat while he kept pacing. "You picked up weapons training faster then any other Turk who didn't already have a military background. You aced the courses given to you to piloting any machine; the way you handle a helicopter is downright amazing. I wondered at your test scores when it came to reading and writing. They were abysmal. Looking at your file I don't know how you convinced Veld to let you in. According to your psych evaluation, you should be one the guys we hunt down." Tseng finally made it back to his desk. He straightened papers that didn't need it just to keep his hands busy.

"But," Reno didn't get any further as Tseng gave him that look. It was the same look that he often got from Rei down at the Watering Hole when he came in injured. 

"Reno, why? What possessed you to pretend to be me?" Tseng really wanted to know what had been going on inside Reno's brain. "I want the whole story."

Reno sighed, it was likely time to tell him what happened. "I came back that night." 

Tseng didn't ask which night, it sounded like Reno was not only his mystery second in command but also the one who found him. "Why?"

"The stakeout was a bust, yo. The guy I was watching went to his apartment, fucked his woman, pulled out his gun and shot her and then himself. Don't know if he got spooked or just twisted but I wasn't sticking around longer then necessary. So I came back. Figured I'd be in time to catch you before you left for the night."

Tseng steepled his fingers as he watched Reno recite what had happened.

"When I checked your office you were lying on the floor. I couldn't wake you up so I took you to the medical facility, but I was still undercover, yo."

Well that explained why no one knew who brought him in. Tseng smirked, Reno didn't go undercover often, but when he did no one could tell it was him.

"When I knew you safe there, I came back here to get some clues as to what happened. The nurse called and said you were poisoned so I checked everything on your desk. I broke into your computer, although to be honest, it wasn't that hard, yo. I did a quick check but couldn't find anything. I went to check on your target, had to set up a remote computer program to have your emails coming to me in case there was something there."

It had been a smart move, one Tseng would have recommended if he had been conscious to do so. "Explain."

"Your target looked clean, but by then a couple of emails had come in. I had no idea if you had been taken out as a way to weaken Rufus' position or in retaliation for something the Turks had done, yo. Was it someone from inside Shinra or from outside? I couldn't find out and I couldn't get back to you to get any information. I thought taking over email as me, but if I let the person on the other end of the emails know you were out, that showed weakness. If I was pretending to be you then it might force them to show their hand early. Besides the missions I accepted on your behalf were ones in which we already had operatives in the area and not acting could put them at greater risk." Reno started fidgeting.

"What didn't you tell Rufus?"

"Well 'cause Rufus wasn't alone, yo." 

That was news to Tseng. The Turks were the only bodyguards that the president was supposed to have. Although if he thought about it, Tseng remembered two suits with Rufus when we first woke up in the hospital. He never saw them again. "Really?" He'd have to question Rufus about them later, if Reno didn't know Wh they were.

Reno continued, "don't know who the guys were. They were dressed to look like Turks, but they were not Turks. They weren't Solider either. Rude made a comment about how careless he was being; I wasn't going to compromise any of our other operatives, so I said nothing. Been looking into them, can't and haven't found anything yet. They stand around, but don't do anything. Problem is, sometimes people forget they're there if you understand."

Tseng rubbed at the bridge of of his nose. He knew exactly what Reno meant, they learn information by blending into the wall as bodyguards or talking to the wait staff then they did actively searching for it. "So Rude knew what you were doing?"

"Oh hell no. He'd have handed me my ass, yo. He just didn't like how cavalier Rufus was being. We had a suspected leak and here he was talking shop in front of a couple of unknowns."

Tseng held up a hand to stop the red from saying anything further. Thinking things over quickly Tseng got up again and stood in front of his window. Looking down onto the section of Midgar below, he thought about everything he'd heard so far. There was very little to have explained, except, "when did you learn the different dialects of Wutai?"

Reno actually looked embarrassed, "it was something that Veld had suggested after I was accepted as a Turk, yo. He told me to take as many night classes in as many different things as I could. Training taught me how to be a pilot, weapons, and field dress wounds. The courses I took were completely different." He could give Tseng a list of what he'd taken, of course he'd have to find it first. In the beginning the courses had been more formal, like the ones he'd taken to improve his reading and learning the different languages. As time went on he found that he could hire someone for a week or two to teach him things that they were good at. He had someone teach him new skills like: the basics of different dance styles, cross dressing, cooking, calligraphy, wood working, knitting, and more. It may seem like they were irrelevant or unrelated, but being able to pass as an elderly woman who can knit well is a sure fire way to get ignored by the paranoid. No one suspects that grandma can break your neck. Of course he'd also done other things to hone skills he already had; like learning how to build a better bomb. Looking at the way Tseng was standing, the stiffness in his shoulders let the red head know that maybe he'd go over what he learned another time.

"Fine. The job is yours." As Reno's confusion morphed into panic, Tseng started to feel better. Misery did love company after all. If Reno was going to take on the role of second in command, Tseng was going to take advantage of his thinking outside of the proverbial box and keep him doing it. Managing the Turks really was too much for one man and with Veld on the verge of getting himself fired or killed, Tseng really needed some help and between the two of them maybe they wouldn't miss the obvious. "I will give the president my report and we will expect you to take over my official second in command tomorrow. You have any complaints quit the Turks. Dismissed." He didn't mention the fact that the only way to quit the Turks was through a body bag, Reno already knew that part.

Reno was too shell shocked to do anything but follow the orders given automatically. He left the room and headed straight for his desk, almost missing his chair completely as he sat down.

"Well man, how bad was the dressing down?" Rude watched his partner enter the boss' office cocky and self assured as always, he came out pale and looking shell shocked.

"Suspended. Right? How long this time?" Cissnei's comment brought to mind the betting pool the eight of them put together quickly as soon as Reno closed the door behind him. Elena even went as far as to call Vincent and Cloud to see if they wanted in on the betting. 

Rude figured that Rufus had bugged the office, or he just knew Tseng and the rest of them that well, as he had called down three minutes after the door closed to place his own bet. Rude made sure to lay his bet in the same direction as Rufus since the president seemed to know something he didn't.

Reno watched Rude closely if this was going screw up their partnership, now was time for it show. "I just got promoted, yo."

"See I told you, he just got...WHAT?" Cissnei's reaction was priceless.

Rude adjusted his sunglasses and nodded before sitting down with his arms crossed over his chest. "Well alright then. Anyone have a problem with the outcome?" None of the other Turks said a word. "Good. Reno?"

"Fine, then, let's get to work yo!" Things were going to be just fine. Rude would back him like always and the Turks would persevere.


End file.
